Sander RX
Bob-omb
- Pronouns
- He, Him
So this is a line of thought I've had before playing these games. I got reminded of it recently, when I played 19XX in the Capcom Arcade Stadium.
When you look at how events of an average SHMUP play out, it is hard not to come away with the impression that ships that headline these games are unstoppable machines of mass destruction.
So, like, the average SHMUP story goes like this. Some overwhelming military force is on the horizon. They have a giant armada with thousands upon thousands of warmachines of every variety, giant mechanized fortresses with enough firepower to dust a whole coutryside, experimental supermachines that defy physics and the natural world. Alternatively, it is a hellish force of monstrous biological abominations that could devour whole civilizations and lay waste to all of the weak life.
And so it goes, the mighty force shows up, some cybernatic cosmo lord calls the good guy high command to inform them of the changed ownership of all their bases and their imminent demise, the mighty metal behemoths get ready to subjugate all the military opposition in their wake and establish unquestionable dominance, the biological terrors from outer space are salivating to sate their hunger with the universe.
And then some lone motherfucker in a single starship pulls up and goes all:
Fearsome armadas coming down in an ocean of flames. The entire industrial military complex of a mighty nation getting transfigured into mountain ranges of scrap metal. Whole squadrons getting snuffed out at once. Giant war behemoths expiring in explosive death throes. Giant Geiger monsters dying with unheard screams in space.
Millions of missiles, shells, energy beams and attempts at body horror hitting emptiness and an occasional force field as the lone craft evades them in maneuvers that have to be generating thousands of Gs and striking back with a dozen power up weapons and field clearing bombs. Its options shrieking as they aid the main craft in bringing death to countless enemies, as all opposition gets reduced to points on the scoreboard.
How do you make a unit this superior to everything else? If you were to tally the kills like they used to on aircraft, there wouldn't be space on these fucking Vic Vipers and the likes to fit all these marks!
Or maybe it is the pilot.
This is the into to MUSHA Aleste
The main character's giant flying robot is ostensibly the same as rest of her squadron. Yet, when the game begins they all get shot down IMMEDIATELY, but this Noa Izumi looking motherfucker goes on and not only does she destroy the "invincible" machine that sniped them all down, she proceeds to fold the entire fucking army by herself.
Not even the most broken, plot armored mech anime protag could do this shit. Like, why even bother sending anyone else? Clearly she is the ace of all aces, the goddess of war, the empress queen of mechanized destruction and her mech is the demon of death.
No seriously, it is amusing to think that an entire military force is getting demolished by a SINGLE FUCKING PLANE. Imagine if, in Star Wars, some XXX-Wing came along and owned the entire Galactic Empire by itself, blowing up all the Death Stars and space fleets alone. Like who'd even give a shit about some geeks with glow sticks anymore? This shit is bonkers. The entire friggin' genre is basically DOOM Slayers in planes or DOOM Slayers that ARE planes. Also sometimes mechs. And other things.
When you look at how events of an average SHMUP play out, it is hard not to come away with the impression that ships that headline these games are unstoppable machines of mass destruction.
So, like, the average SHMUP story goes like this. Some overwhelming military force is on the horizon. They have a giant armada with thousands upon thousands of warmachines of every variety, giant mechanized fortresses with enough firepower to dust a whole coutryside, experimental supermachines that defy physics and the natural world. Alternatively, it is a hellish force of monstrous biological abominations that could devour whole civilizations and lay waste to all of the weak life.
And so it goes, the mighty force shows up, some cybernatic cosmo lord calls the good guy high command to inform them of the changed ownership of all their bases and their imminent demise, the mighty metal behemoths get ready to subjugate all the military opposition in their wake and establish unquestionable dominance, the biological terrors from outer space are salivating to sate their hunger with the universe.
And then some lone motherfucker in a single starship pulls up and goes all:
Fearsome armadas coming down in an ocean of flames. The entire industrial military complex of a mighty nation getting transfigured into mountain ranges of scrap metal. Whole squadrons getting snuffed out at once. Giant war behemoths expiring in explosive death throes. Giant Geiger monsters dying with unheard screams in space.
Millions of missiles, shells, energy beams and attempts at body horror hitting emptiness and an occasional force field as the lone craft evades them in maneuvers that have to be generating thousands of Gs and striking back with a dozen power up weapons and field clearing bombs. Its options shrieking as they aid the main craft in bringing death to countless enemies, as all opposition gets reduced to points on the scoreboard.
How do you make a unit this superior to everything else? If you were to tally the kills like they used to on aircraft, there wouldn't be space on these fucking Vic Vipers and the likes to fit all these marks!
Or maybe it is the pilot.
This is the into to MUSHA Aleste
The main character's giant flying robot is ostensibly the same as rest of her squadron. Yet, when the game begins they all get shot down IMMEDIATELY, but this Noa Izumi looking motherfucker goes on and not only does she destroy the "invincible" machine that sniped them all down, she proceeds to fold the entire fucking army by herself.
Not even the most broken, plot armored mech anime protag could do this shit. Like, why even bother sending anyone else? Clearly she is the ace of all aces, the goddess of war, the empress queen of mechanized destruction and her mech is the demon of death.
No seriously, it is amusing to think that an entire military force is getting demolished by a SINGLE FUCKING PLANE. Imagine if, in Star Wars, some XXX-Wing came along and owned the entire Galactic Empire by itself, blowing up all the Death Stars and space fleets alone. Like who'd even give a shit about some geeks with glow sticks anymore? This shit is bonkers. The entire friggin' genre is basically DOOM Slayers in planes or DOOM Slayers that ARE planes. Also sometimes mechs. And other things.
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